The retention rate at OU has fallen again to 79.8 percent. This is a continuing trend that, as administrators have confirmed, has begun to affect the budget. Many of the monetary woes facing the university have been blamed on the falling retention rate. There is a problem keeping students at OU, and the university needs to start offering real solutions.
Desperation for money has not seemed to help the university fix this ongoing problem. Instead, they talk about how peer institutions' retention rates cannot be compared with Ohio's. But the last time we checked our dictionary, a peer is something of equal worth or quality. So, does that mean these peer universities are not equal to OU?
The main problem with retention rate is fairly simple to see. With scandals abounding, it is becoming harder and harder for OU students to deal with the repercussions after graduation. Why come to an institution so embroiled with problems that the very degree you receive is looked upon with skepticism? And the crowning cherry on this sundae of shame is the lowering admission standards that have let anyone with any form of test scores come to OU. The open-door policy the university has adopted is sucking the life out of OU.
Some of this is beyond the university's control. But there is a lot more the university can do to help. Most of these students leave between fall and spring of their freshmen year. There has to be more the university can do to help make the transition to college easier. The solution is not perceiving incoming freshmen as dollar signs. If the university wants them to stay, they need to offer better alternatives to drinking and sitting in residence hall rooms. And not just things at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. There should be more to late-night activities than hot dogs and pingpong in Baker.Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Post executive editors.
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More students are leaving OU, and itG
